June 4 1836 to July 21 1836 - PTR, Vol. 7

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f3706 J [CHAMBERS SPEECH]

Magnanimous and Chivalrous Sons of the West:

TEXAS is again invaded by a ruthless and sa1)guinary foe, and she renews her call to the brave and the free, to aid her in her noble struggle, and to participate in the glory of sustaining the principles of civil and religious liberty, against tyranny and fanaticism. The Tcxians are again taught the folly of relying upon any stipulations with a fallen wretch who has so often violated his plighted faith, and whose soul is stained with the blood of his own brethren and countrymen, and of your brethren and countrymen, whom he could not conquer in the field, but who fell victims to his false pledges, perfidy and inhuman barbarity. He is fallen, and the doom of the perfidious murderer and patricide is pending over him, hut the war has not been terminated by his fall. He was but the creature and the instrument of a party: that party still lives; and the object of those who compose it is, to sweep from the nation every vestige of civil liberty, and to establish upon the ruins of the Federal Constitution, an absolute military and ecclesiastical despot• ism. The wrath of the party has not been roused against the Texians on account of their rebellious seirit and ingratitude, as it has been alledged; for they were ever faithful to their oaths, and constant in their adhesion to Mexico, until they were driven from her by a wanton and unprovoked invasion. It is not to recover the fair region they inhabit that the myrmidons of tyranny are sent against them, for the Mexicans have never known how to appreciate its value. It is liberty that the party fear-it is the contagious and all-pervading influence of North American liberty that they seek lo counteract and destroy; and extermination is the means by which they propose to effect it. The cause of Texas is not an isolated one peculiar to herself; it is the cause of human liberty; it is the cause of all mankind. To prove the sincerity of Texas ~n the mig~!Y stmggle in which she is engaged, and her detcrminabon and ability to sustam it, it would only be necessary to point to the Alamo and to_San . Jacinto. But desirous of bringing the contest to a speedy ter~runat- ion, and of settling and cultivating her immense vacant dom?m, she calls upon the brave and enterprising to aid her in the conflict, and offers to them in return, homes and rich estates in the most beautiful region and delicious clime on the face of the earth.. . By the laws adopted by the people of Texas regulating tlus

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